BIOS* 


HAROLD  BELL  WRIGHT 


A  BIOGRAPHY 

INTIMATE  AND 
AUTHORITATIVE 


By  ELSBERY 
W.  REYNOLDS 


This  booklet  will  give  the  reader  a  knowledge 
and  understanding  of  the  life  work,  aims  and  pur¬ 
poses  of  Harold  Bell  Wright  as  expressed  through 
his  books.  It  is  published  for  free  distribution 
by  the  publishers  of  the  author’s  works.  Extra 
copies  furnished  on  request.  Your  efforts  to  give 
it  a  wider  circulation  will  be  greatly  appreciated. 


—  The  Publishers. 


Harold  Bell  Wright 

Author  of 

That  Printer  of  Udell’s 

The  Shepherd  of  the  Hills 

The  Calling  of  Dan  Matthews 
The  Uncrowned  King 

The  Winning  of  Barbara  Worth 
Their  Yesterdays 

The  Eyes  of  the  World 
When  a  Man’s  a  Man 


Harold  Bell  Wright 

A  Biography 

Intimate  and  Authoritative 

By 

Elsbery  W.  Reynolds 

The  biography  of  a  man  is  of  impor¬ 
tance  and  interest  to  other  men  just  to 
the  degree  that  his  life  and  work  touches 
and  influences  the  life  of  his  time  and  the 
lives  of  individuals. 

Only  in  a  feeble  way,  at  best,  can  the 
life  story  of  any  man  be  told  on  the 
printed  page.  The  story  is  better  as  it  is 
written  on  the  hearts  of  men  and  women 
and  the  man  himself  does  the  writing. 

He  lives  longest  who  lives  best.  He 
who  carves  deepest  against  corroding 
time  is  he  who  touches  with  surest  hand 
the  greatest  number  of  human  hearts. 

He  may  or  may  not  be  a  prodigy  of 
physical  strength.  He  may  or  may  not 
be  a  tower  of  mental  energy.  But  so 
long  as  this  old  world  stands  the  man 
with  an  overpowering  desire  for  all  that 
is  best  for  the  race  to  be  in  the  race, 
whose  life  is  in  tune  with  the  divine  and 
with  the  good  that  is  within  us  all, 
whether  he  be  orator,  writer,  artist  or 
artisan,  is  a  giant  among  men. 

That  which  we  read  makes  a  deeper 
and  more  lasting  impression  on  our  lives 
than  that  which  we  see  or  hear.  An  au¬ 
thor  with  millions  of  readers  must  be  a 
great  central  power  of  thought  and  in- 

1 


fluence,  at  least,  in  his  own  day  and  gen¬ 
eration.  We  can  understand  the  truth  of 
this  through  a  study  of  the  aims  and  life 
purposes  of  Harold  Bell  Wright  as  ex¬ 
pressed  through  his  books  and  the  cir¬ 
cumstances  under  which  they  were  writ¬ 
ten. 

The  wonderful  popularity  of  this  au¬ 
thor  is  well  estimated  by  the  millions  of 
copies  of  his  books  that  have  been  sold. 
This  is  also  the  greatest  testimonial  that 
can  be  given  to  the  merit  of  his  work. 
The  great  heart  of  the  reading  public  is 
an  unprejudiced  critic.  “Is  not  the  great¬ 
est  voice  the  one  to  which  the  greatest 
number  of  hearts  listen  with  pleasure?” 

When  a  man  has  attained  to  great  emi¬ 
nence  under  adverse  circumstances  we 
sometimes  wonder  to  what  heights  he 
might  have  climbed  under  conditions 
more  favorable.  Who  can  tell?  It  is 
just  as  easy  to  say  what  the  young  man 
of  twenty  will  be  when  a  matured  man 
of  forty.  The  boy  of  poverty  makes  a 
man  of  power  while  the  boy  nursed  in 
the  lap  of  luxury  makes  a  man  of  unevent¬ 
ful  life,  and,  again,  a  life  started  with  a 
handicap  remains  so  through  its  possible 
three  score  years  and  ten  and  the  life 
begun  with  advantages  multiplies  its 
talents  ten  and  a  hundred  fold. 

So,  after  all,  is  not  the  heart  of  man 
the  real  man  and  is  it  not  the  guiding  star 
of  his  ambition,  his  will,  his  determina¬ 
tion,  his  conscience? 

Harold  Bell  Wright,  the  second  of  four 
sons,  was  born  May  4,  1872,  in  Rome, 
Oneida  County,  New  York.  From  an 


2 


earlier  biographer  we  quote  the  follow¬ 
ing: 

“Some  essential  facts  must  be  dug  from 
out  the  past  where  they  lie  embedded  in 
the  detrital  chronicles  of  the  race.  Say, 
then,  that  away  back  in  1640  a  ship  load 
of  Anglo-Saxon  freedom  landed  in  New 
England.  After  a  brief  period  some  of  the 
more  venturesome  spirits  emigrated  to 
the  far  west  and  settled  amid  the  undula¬ 
tions  of  the  Mohawk  valley  in  central 
New  York.  Protestant  France  also  sent 
westward  some  Gallic  chivalry  hungering 
for  freedom.  The  fringe  of  this  garment 
of  civilization  spread  out  and  reached 
also  into  the  same  valley.  English  de¬ 
termination  and  Huguenot  aspiration 
touched  elbows  in  the  war  for  political 
and  religious  freedom,  and  touched  hearts 
and  hands  in  the  struggle  for  economic 
freedom.  Their  generations  were  a  genu¬ 
ine  aristocracy.  Mutual  struggles  after 
mutual  aims  cemented  casual  acquaint¬ 
ance  into  enduring  friendship.  William 
Wright  met,  loved  and  married  Alma  T. 
Watson.  To  them  four  sons  were  born. 
A  carpenter  contractor,  a  man  who  builds, 
contrives  and  constructs,  is  joined  to  a 
woman  into  whose  soul  of  wholesome  re¬ 
finement  come  images  of  dainty  beauty, 
where  they  glow  and  grow  radiant.  With 
lavish  unrestraint  the  life  of  this  French 
woman  pours  itself  into  her  sons.  The 
third  child  died  in  infancy.  The  eldest 
survived  his  mother  by  some  thirteen 
years.  The  youngest  is  a  constructive 
mechanical  engineer.  The  second  son  is 
Harold  Bell  Wright. 

“During  ten  years  this  mother  and  this 


3 


son  live  in  rare  intimacy.  The  boy’s  first 
enduring  impression  of  this  life  is  the 
vision  of  the  mother  bending  affection¬ 
ately  over  him  while  criticising  the  water 
color  sketch  his  unpractised  fingers  had 
just  made.  Crude  blendings  and  faulty 
lines  were  pointed  out,  then  touched  into 
harmony  and  more  accurate  perspective 
by  her  quick  skill.  Together  their  eyes 
watched  shades  dance  on  sunny  slopes, 
cloud  shadows  race  among  the  hills  or  lie 
lazily  in  the  valley  below. 

“Exuberant  Nature  and  ebullient  boy 
loved  each  other  from  the  first.  Alone, 
enravished,  he  often  wandered  far  in  sheer 
joy  of  living.  He  brings,  one  day,  from 
his  rambles  a  bunch  of  immortelles  which 
mother  graciously  receives.  Twenty 
years  later  the  boy,  man-grown,  bows 
reverently  over  a  box  of  withered  flowers 
— the  same  bouquet  the  mother  took  that 
day  and  laid  away  as  a  precious  memento 
of  his  boyish  love.  Such  was  the  first 
decade. 

“A  ten  year  old  boy,  motherless,  steals 
from  harsh  labor  and  yet  harsher  sur¬ 
roundings,  runs  to  the  home  of  sacred 
memories,  clambers  to  the  attic,  and 
spends  the  night  in  anguished  solitude. 
This  was  his  first  Gethsemane.  For  ten 
years  buffeted  and  beaten,  battling  with 
adversity,  sometimes  losing  but  never 
lost,  snatching  learning  here  and  there, 
hating  sham,  loving  passionately,  mis¬ 
understood,  misapprehended,  too  stub¬ 
bornly  proud  to  ask  apologies  or  make 
useless  explanations,  fighting  poverty  in 
the  depths  of  privation,  wrestling  exist¬ 
ence  from  toil  he  loathed,  befriending 


4 


many  and  also  befriended  much,  but  al¬ 
ways  face  to  face  with  the  grim  tragedy 
which  has  held  part  of  the  stage  since 
Eden. 

“Such  was  the  second  decade.  The  first 
was  spent  on  hill  sides  where  shadows 
only  made  the  light  more  buoyant  as 
they  fled  away.  The  second  was  passed 
in  the  valley  where  the  shadow  hung 
lazily  till  the  cloud  grew  very  black  and 
drenched  the  soil. 

“Lured  to  college,  he  undertook  to  ac¬ 
quire  academic  culture.  As  is  well  known, 
college  life  with  its  professorial  anecdotes 
and  jokes,  its  student  pranks  and  grind, 
is  routine  drudgery  and  cobwebbery  prose. 
Bookish  professors  and  conventional  stu¬ 
dents  rarely  have  just  such  an  animate 
problem  of  French  artistry  and  Bohe¬ 
mian  experience  to  solve.  They  did  nobly, 
to  be  sure,  but  here  was  a  mind  which 
threw  over  them  all  the  glamour  of  ro¬ 
mance.” 

Mr.  Wright  entered  the  Preparatory 
Department  of  Hiram  College  at  the  age 
of  twenty,  having  previously  accepted  the 
faith  and  identified  himself  with  the 
Christian  Church  in  the  little  quarry  town 
of  Grafton,  Ohio.  He  continued  active 
in  the  different  departments  of  work  in 
his  church  all  during  his  school  years 
with  the  ultimate  result  of  his  entering 
the  ministry. 

Having  no  financial  means,  while  in 
school  he  made  his  way  by  doing  odd  jobs 
about  town,  house  painting  and  decorat¬ 
ing,  sketching,  etc.  After  two  years  of 
school  life,  while  laboring  to  gain  funds 
in  order  that  he  might  continue  his 


5 


schooling,  he  contracted  from  overwork 
and  out-door  exposure  a  severe  case  of 
pneumonia  that  left  his  eyesight  badly 
impaired  and  his  constitution  in  such 
condition,  that  to  the  present  day,  he  has 
never  fully  recovered. 

Air  castles  were  tumbled  and  hopes 
blasted  when  his  physician  advised  him 
that  it  would  be  fatal  to  reenter  school 
for,  at  least,  another  year.  Whereupon, 
seeking  health  and  a  means  of  existence, 
starting  from  a  point  on  the  Mahoning 
river,  he  canoed  with  sketch  and  note 
book,  but  alone,  down  stream  a  distance 
of  more  than  five  hundred  miles.  From 
this  point,  by  train,  he  embarked  for  the 
Ozark  mountains  in  southwest  Missouri. 
Here,  for  some  months,  while  gradually 
regaining  his  strength,  he  secured  em¬ 
ployment  at  farm  work,  sketching  and 
painting  at  intervals. 

Once  more,  he  found  himself  on  bed¬ 
rock,  taking  his  last  cent  to  pay  express 
charges  back  to  Ohio  on  some  finished 
pictures,  but,  this  time,  fortune  smiled 
promptly  with  a  good  check  by  return 
mail. 

It  was  while  in  the  Ozarks  that  Harold 
Bell  Wright  preached  his  first  sermon. 
Being  a  regular  attendant  at  the  services, 
held  in  the  little  mountain  log  school 
house,  he  was  asked  to  talk  to  the  people, 
one  Sunday,  when  the  regular  preacher 
had  failed  to  appear. 

From  this  Sunday  morning  talk,  that 
could  hardly  be  called  a  sermon,  and 
others  that  followed,  he  came  to  feel  that 
he  could  do  more  good  in  the  ministry 
than  he  could  in  any  other  field  of  labor, 

6 


and  soon  thereafter  accepted  a  regular 
pastorate  at  Pierce  City,  Missouri,  at  a 
yearly  salary  of  four  hundred  dollars 
True  to  a  resolve,  that  his  work  should  be 
that  through  which  he  could  help  the 
most  people,  he  had  now  chosen  the  min¬ 
istry.  A  further  resolve  that  he  would 
give  up  this  ministry,  chosen  with  such 
earnest  conviction,  should  another  field 
of  labor  offer  more  extensive  measures 
for  reaching  mankind,  took  him,  in  later 
years,  into  the  field  of  literature.  He  left 
the  ministry  with  many  regrets  but  with 
the  same  earnest  conviction  with  which 
he  had  earlier  chosen  it. 

Following  the  publication  of  “The 
Shepherd  of  the  Hills”  his  publishers  as¬ 
sured  him  that  he  could  secure  greater 
results  from  his  pen  rather  than  his  pul¬ 
pit  and  prevailed  upon  him  to  henceforth 
make  literature  his  life  work.  This  was 
in  every  way  consistent  with  his  teaching 
that  every  man’s  ministry  is  that  work 
through  which  he  can  accomplish  the 
greatest  good. 

In  the  battle  of  life  there  is  always  the 
higher  ground  that  the  many  covet  but 
few  attain.  In  reaching  this  height  Mr. 
Wright  has  given  to  a  multitude,  his  time, 
strength  and  substance,  that  they,  too, 
might  further  advance.  He  is  companion¬ 
able,  loving  and  loyal  to  his  friends.  He 
hates  sham  and  hypocrisy  and  any  at¬ 
tempt  to  glorify  one’s  self  by  means  other 
than  the  fruits  of  one’s  own  labor. 

This  boy,  who  from  the  death  of  his 
mother,  was  driven  into  a  hand  to  hand 
struggle  with  life  for  a  bare  existence, 
was  necessarily  forced  into  contact  with 


7 


much  that  was  vicious  and  corrupt.  But 
he  in  no  way  became  a  part  of  it.  That 
same  inherent  love  for  mental  cleanliness 
and  spiritual  truths  that  has  so  distin¬ 
guished  the  works  of  the  man  kept  the 
boy  unstained  in  his  unfortunate  environ¬ 
ment. 

Mr.  Wright  resigned  his  charge  at 
Pierce  City  for  the  larger  work  at  Pitts¬ 
burg,  Kansas.  In  the  second  year  of  his 
pastorate — 1899 — he  married  Frances  E. 
Long  in  Buffalo,  New  York.  This  union 
of  love  had  its  beginning  back  in  the 
school  days  at  Hiram.  Unto  them  have 
been  born  three  sons,  Gilbert  Munger, 
1901,  Paul  Williams,  1902,  and  Norman 
Hall,  1910. 

In  Pittsburg,  Mr.  Wright  received  en¬ 
thusiastic  support  from  his  church  people. 
Finances  were  soon  in  a  satisfactory  con¬ 
dition,  and  church  attendance  reached  the 
capacity  of  the  building,  but  still  the 
young  pastor  was  not  satisfied.  Pitts¬ 
burg  was  a  mining  town,  a  young  men’s 
town.  A  little  city  with  saloons  and 
brothels  doing  business  on  every  hand. 
His  soul  was  on  fire  for  his  church  to  do 
a  larger  work  and,  with  the  hope  of  arous¬ 
ing  his  people,  he  conceived  the  idea  of 
writing  “That  Printer  of  Udell’s,”  plan¬ 
ning  to  read  the  story,  by  installments,  on 
special  evenings  of  successive  weeks,  to 
his  congregation. 

Pittsburg  was  made  the  principal  scene 
and  the  church  of  the  story  was  the  kind 
of  church  he  wanted  his  Pittsburg  charge 
to  be.  The  teachings  set  forth,  through 
the  preacher  of  the  story,  in  the  latter 
half  of  the  book,  are  the  identical  things 

8 


the  author  was  preaching.  The  first 
chapters  of  the  story  are  very  largely  col¬ 
ored  by  Mr.  Wright’s  early  life,  but  they 
are  by  no  means  autobiographical. 

“That  Printer  of  Udell’s”  was  written 
without  thought  or  intention  of  offering 
it  for  publication.  During  the  author’s 
ministry  he  made  some  of  the  warmest 
and  most  abiding  friendships  of  his  life, 
and  it  was  through  certain  of  these 
friends  that  he  was  persuaded  from  read¬ 
ing  the  story,  as  intended,  but  to  offer  it 
for  publication,  giving  it,  thus,  a  wider 
usefulness. 

Having  a  leave  of  absence  of  several 
weeks  from  his  church  during  the  winter 
of  1901-2  he  accepted  an  invitation  from 
the  pastor  of  a  Chicago  church  to  hold  a 
special  meeting,  and  it  was  during  this 
meeting  that  the  author  and  his  publisher 
met  for  the  first  time.  Mr.  Wright  de¬ 
livered  a  sermon  entitled  “Sculptors  of 
Life”  that  was  so  impressive  that  I 
sought  him  out  with  entreaties  to  repeat 
his  sermon  as  a  lecture  to  a  certain  com¬ 
pany  of  young  people. 

The  acquaintance  thus  begun  very 
quickly  became  one  of  friendship,  with¬ 
out  any  knowledge  or  thought  that  it 
would  in  time  lead  to  a  co-operative  life 
work,  and  when  the  author  later  offered 
his  book  for  publication  it  was  without 
request  or  thought  of  financial  remunera¬ 
tion.  Mr.  Wright,  however,  was  given  a 
contract  paying  him  the  highest  royalty 
that  was  being  paid  for  any  author’s  first 
book. 

“That  Printer  of  Udell’s”  was  written 
almost  entirely  in  the  late  hours  of  the 


9 


night  and  the  very  early  hours  of  the 
morning.  Great  demands  were  being: 
made  on  the  author’s  time  in  the  way  of? 
requests  for  officiating  and  speaking  at: 
public  and  civic  functions  in  addition  to* 
the  now  heavy  requirements  of  his; 
church.  His  aggressive  activities,  backedl 
by  his  splendid  spirit,  fearlessness  ancf- 
courage  in  combating  the  evils  of  his  little 
city  made  for  him  a  host  of  admirers, 
alike,  among  his  enemies  and  friends. 
When  he  left  to  accept  a  pastorate  in 
Kansas  City,  Missouri,  his  resignation 
was  not  accepted. 

After  one  year  in  Kansas  City  he 
found  that  he  was  not  physically  able  to 
carry  out  the  great  city  work  as  he  had 
dreamed  it  and  planned  it,  on  a  scale 
that  would  satisfy  his  longings  for  serv¬ 
ice,  and  it  made  him  seriously  consider 
whether  there  was  not  some  other  way 
that  would  more  equally  measure  with  his 
strength.  He  went  again  to  the  Ozarksr 
this  time  for  rest  and  meditation,  and! 
while  there  began  writing  “The  Shepherd 
of  the  Hills.”  This  story  has  a  peculiar 
significance  for  the  author.  He  feels 
toward  it  as  he  can  not  feel  for  any  of  his 
other  books.  “The  Shepherd  of  the 
Hills”  was  written  as  a  test.  The 
strength  of  the  message  he  was  able  to 
put  into  the  story  and  the  response  it 
should  find  in  the  hearts  of  men  and 
women  was  to  decide  for  him  his  ministry 
henceforth,  whether  he  would  teach  the 
precepts  of  the  Man  of  Galilee  by  voice 
or  pen.  It  was  a  testing  time  that  bore 
fruit  not  only  in  this  simple,  sweet  story, 
that  to  quote  an  eminent  divine,  “is  one  of 


10 


the  greatest  sermons  of  our  day,”  but  re¬ 
sulted  as  well  in  the  splendid  volumes 
that  have  followed. 

“The  Shepherd  of  the  Hills”  was 
finished  during  the  year  of  his  pastorate 
at  Lebanon,  Missouri,  and  but  for  the 
sympathy,  encouragement  and  helpful  un¬ 
derstanding  of  his  church  officers  and 
membership,  it  is  doubtful  if  the  story 
could  ever  have  been  completed.  When 
Mr.  Wright  delivered  the  manuscript  to 
his  publishers  the  first  of  the  year,  1907, 
for  publication  the  next  fall,  he  had  ac¬ 
cepted  the  pastorate  of  the  Christian 
Church  in  Redlands,  California,  hoping 
this  land  of  sunshine  would  give  him  a 
larger  measure  of  health. 

Some  months  later,  resigning  his  Red¬ 
lands  pastorate,  he  went  to  the  Imperial 
Valley  and  there,  the  following  year, 
wrote  “The  Calling  of  Dan  Matthews.” 
The  church  and  its  problems  were  weigh¬ 
ing  on  the  author  and  affecting  his  life 
no  less  than  when  he  was  in  the  minis¬ 
try  and  it  was  only  natural  that  he  should 
give  to  the  world  “a  picture  that  is  true  to 
the  four  corners  of  the  earth.”  Every  inci¬ 
dent  in  the  story  has  its  counterpart  in 
real  life  and,  with  but  few  exceptions, 
came  under  the  author’s  personal  observa¬ 
tion.  He  did  not  get  the  real  pleasure  out 
of  writing  “The  Calling  of  Dan  Mat¬ 
thews”  that  he  did  the  story  which  pre¬ 
ceded  it.  But  he  could  not,  try  as  he 
would,  escape  it. 

The  publication  of  “The  Calling  of  Dan 
Matthews”  in  the  fall  of  1909  was  just 
two  years  after  the  publication  of  “The 
Shepherd  of  the  Hills.” 

11 


“The  Winning  of  Barbara  Worth”  re¬ 
quired  more  time  and  effort  in  the  col¬ 
lecting7  of  material  than  any  book  the 
author  had  written,  but  probably  gave 
him,  at  least,  as  much  pleasure.  He  is 
very  careful  with  regard  to  descriptive 
detail,  and  even  while  writing  “The 
Calling  of  Dan  Matthews”  he  was  mak¬ 
ing  a  study  of  the  desert  and  this  great 
reclamation  project.  Before  sending  his 
manuscript  for  publication  he  had  it 
checked  over  by  the  best  engineers  on  the 
Pacific  coast  for  inaccuracies  in  any  of 
his  descriptions  that  involved  engineering 
or  reclamation  problems. 

“The  Winning  of  Barbara  Worth” 
bears  the  distinction,  without  doubt,  of 
being  the  only  book  ever  published  that 
called  its  publisher  and  illustrator  from  a 
distance  of  two  and  three  thousand  miles, 
into  the  heart  of  a  great  desert,  for  a  con¬ 
sultation  with  its  author.  This  story  of 
the  Imperial  Valley  and  its  reclamation 
was  written  in  the  same  study  as  was 
“The  Calling  of  Dan  Matthews.”  A  study 
of  rude  construction,  about  eighteen  by 
thirty-five  feet,  with  thatched  roof  and 
outside  covering  of  ^native  arrow-weed 
and  built  entirely  by  the  author  himself. 

When  Mr.  Wright  finished  “The  Win¬ 
ning  of  Barbara  Worth” — so  named  in 
honor  of  Ruth  Barbara  Reynolds — he  was 
a  sick  man.  He  often  worked  the  night 
through,  overtaxing  his  nerves  and 
strength.  For  several  months  he  virtually 
dwelt  within  the  four  walls  of  his  study 
and  for  a  time  it  was  feared  he  would  not 
live  to  finish  the  book.  He  wrote  the  last 
chapters  while  confined  to  his  bed,  after 


12 


which  he  was  taken  by  easy  stages, 
through  the  kindness  of  friends,  to  that 
part  of  Northern  Arizona  that  is  so  de¬ 
lightful  to  all  lovers  of  the  out-of-doors. 
In  this  bracing  mile-high  atmosphere  he 
soon  grew  well  and  strong,  almost  to  rug¬ 
gedness,  and  on  the  day  his  book  was 
published  he  was  riding  in  a  wild-horse 
chase  over  a  country  wild  and  rough  where 
the  writer  of  this  sketch  would  only  care* 
to  go,  carefully  picking  his  way,  on  foot. 
So  it  was  weeks  after  publication  before 
the  author  saw  the  first  bound  copy  of  his 
book.  During  these  summer  and  fall 
months,  while  regaining  his  strength,  he 
was  busy  with  sketch  and  note  book 
collecting  material,  for  this  part  of  Ari¬ 
zona  is  the  scene  of  his  novel  “When  a 
Man’s  a  Man.” 

“Their  Yesterdays”  was  written  in 
Tucson,  Arizona,  and  was  published  in 
the  fall  of  1912,  just  one  year  after  the 
publication  of  “The  Winning  of  Barbara 
Worth.”  In  order  to  write  this  story, 
with  the  least  possible  strain  on  his 
nerves  and  vitality,  Mr.  Wright  'Secluded 
himself  in  a  little  cottage  purchased  espe¬ 
cially  for  this  work.  His  material  was 
collected  from  the  observations  of  his 
thoughtful  years  and  his  intimate  knowl¬ 
edge  of  human  hearts.  This  book  is,  per¬ 
haps,  more  representative  of  the  real 
Harold  Bell  Wright  than  anything  he  has 
done.  It  is  the  true  presentation  of  his 
views  on  life,  love  and  religion.  I  once 
asked  Mr.  Wright,  in  behalf  of  the  fac¬ 
ulty,  to  deliver  an  address  to  a  graduating 
class  of  some  twenty-odd  young  men  of 
the  Morgan  Park  Academy  (Chicago). 

13 


He  was  very  busy  and  I  suggested  that 
without  special  effort  he  make  the  com¬ 
monplace  remarks  that  one  so  often  hears 
on  like  occasions.  For  the  first  time  that 
I  remember  he  somewhat  impatiently  re¬ 
sented  a  suggestion  from  me,  saying, 
“These  young  men  are  on  the  threshold 
of  life  and  the  very  best  that  is  within  me 
is  due  to  them.  I  can  give  to  them  only 
"such  a  message  as  I  would,  were  I  to 
stand  before  judgment  on  the  morrow.” 
It  was  with  just  this  spirit  that  the 
author  wrote  “Their  Yesterdays.” 

Following  “Their  Yesterdays”  the  next 
book  in  order  of  publication  was  “The 
Eyes  of  the  World”  published  in  the  fall 
of  1914.  It  was  written  in  the  same 
arrow-weed  study  on  Tecolote  Rancho  in 
the  Imperial  Valley  where  he  wrote  “The 
Calling  of  Dan  Matthews”  and  “The 
Winning  of  Barbara  Worth.”  Being  fully 
in  sympathy  with  the  author’s  purpose 
in  writing  this  story,  the  campaign  of  ad¬ 
vertising  was  of  such  educational  charac¬ 
ter  and  so  eventful  in  many  ways,  that  it 
will  long  be  remembered  by  authors,  pub¬ 
lishers  and  reading  public,  and,  we  trust, 
make  for  cleaner  books  and  pictures. 

As  it  was  in  the  writing  of  “The  Call¬ 
ing  of  Dan  Matthews”  so  it  was  in  the 
writing  of  “The  Eyes  of  the  World,”  the 
sense  of  duty  stood  highest.  The  modern 
trend  in  books  and  music  and  art  and 
drama  had  so  incensed  the  author  that 
“The  Eyes  of  the  World”  was  the  result 
of  his  all  impelling  desire  for  cleaner  liv¬ 
ing  and  thinking.  As  is  true  of  all  writ¬ 
ers,  there  are  sometimes  those  who  fail 
to  catch  the  message  in  Mr.  Wright’s 

14 


books.  He  is  occasionally  misunderstood, 
and  that  was  especially  true  with  “The 
Eyes  of  the  World.”  To  the  great  major¬ 
ity  of  people,  clean  living  and  thinking,  the 
message  was  not  to  be  misinterpreted  and  to 
them  the  book  is  blessed.  To  that  small 
minority  it  was  convicting  and,  from  a 
few  such,  it  brought  forth  condemnation 
which,  in  a  fellow  author  here  and  there, 
was  pronounced  and  emphasized  by  envy 
and  jealousy.  To  critics  of  this  class  Mr. 
Wright  makes  no  reply  and  is  not  in  the 
least  disturbed. 

“The  Uncrowned  King,”  a  small  vol¬ 
ume — an  allegory — published  in  1910,  to 
me,  is  one  of  the  most  delightful  of  Mr. 
Wright’s  books.  Possibly,  it  has  an  added 
charm  because  of  certain  peculiar  con¬ 
ditions.  It  was  written  in  Redlands, 
California,  during  the  winter  of  1909-10, 
although  the  notion  for  the  little  volume 
occurred  to  the  author  while  living  in 
Kansas  City.  It  was  one  of  those  times 
when  the  longing  and  will  to  do  a  work 
greater  than  the  physical  would  permit 
seemed  almost  overpowering  when, 
unconsciously  coming  to  his  aid,  a  young 
woman  talking  to  a  company  of  Chris¬ 
tian  Endeavorers  chanced  to  remark, 
“After  all,  the  real  kings  of  earth  are 
seldom  crowned.”  All  through  the  even¬ 
ing  service  thoughts  that  this  inspired 
kept  running  through  the  author’s  mind 
and  late  that  same  night  he  wrote  the  out¬ 
line  which  was  only  completed  some  years 
later  and  given  to  his  publishers  to  enrich 
the  world. 

His  first  four  novels  in  order  of  pub¬ 
lication  have  been  dramatized  and  en- 


15 


joyed  by  thousands  from  before  the  foot¬ 
lights  and  it  has  been  a  delight  to  renew 
acquaintances  with  old  friends  in  this 
way.  It  remained  for  “The  Eyes  of  the 
World”  to  be  the  first  of  his  books  to  be 
presented  in  a  feature  production  of  mo¬ 
tion  pictures. 

The  likes  and  dislikes  of  Harold  Bell 
Wright  are  quite  pronounced.  He  is  un¬ 
pretending,  cares  not  for  the  lime-light 
and  avoids  interviews  for  the  public 
press.  Loud,  boisterous  conversation  is 
but  little  less  offensive  to  him  than  vul¬ 
garity  in  speech  or  action.  His  friends 
are  strong,  clean-minded  men  who  are 
doing  things  in  the  world  and  are  as 
necessary  to  his  being  as  the  air  to  his 
existence,  and  his  generosity  to  them  is 
no  less  marked  than  his  caring  and  pro¬ 
viding  for  his  family,  which  is  almost  a 
passion.  He  is  extremely  fond  of  most 
forms  of  out-door  life.  The  desert  with 
its  vast  expanse,  fierce  solitude  and  varied 
colors  is  no  less  attractive  to  him  than  the 
peaceful  quiet  of  wooded  dells,  the  beauty 
of  flowering  meadows  or  the  rugged 
mountains  with  their  roaring  trout 
streams  that  furnish  him  hours  of  sport 
with  rod  and  line.  He  enjoys  hunting, 
horse-back  riding  or  long  tramps  afoot. 
But  when  there  is  work  to  be  done  it  is 
the  one  thing  that  bulks  largest  and  all 
else  must  wait. 

After  finishing  “The  Eyes  of  the 
World”  Mr.  Wright  embarked  on  the  build¬ 
ing  of  a  home  in  the  Santa  Monica  moun¬ 
tains  near  Hollywood,  California.  So  in 
the  summer  of  1915  the  little  family  of  five 
began  making  their  residence  in  the  new 


16 


canyon  home,  one  of  nature’s  delightful 
spots. 

Then  again,  the  author  went  into  camp 
in  the  Arizona  desert  while  writing 
“When  a  Man’s  a  Man/’  For  he  finds  it 
very  helpful  to  live  in  the  atmosphere  of 
his  story  while  doing  the  actual  writing 
and  he  also  avoids  frequent  interruption. 
I  think  he  got  more  real  enjoyment  out 
of  this  story  than  any  he  has  previously 
done.  It  is  a  story  of  the  out-of-doors  in 
this  great  unfenced  land  where  a  man 
must  be  a  man.  I  suppose,  too,  he  enjoyed 
writing  this  work  so  much,  partly,  because 
it  comes  so  easy  for  him  to  just  tell  a 
story  without  the  intervention  of  some 
nerve  racking  problem.  The  only  book 
he  has  heretofore  written  that  is  purely  a 
story  is  “The  Shepherd  of  the  Hills,”  and 
I  sometimes  wonder  to  what  proportion 
of  his  readers  does  this  Ozark  story  hold 
first  place.  To  all  such,  I  am  sure, 
“When  a  Man’s  a  Mian”  will  find  a  recep¬ 
tion  of  special  heartiness  because  it  is  just 
a  fine,  big,  wholesome  novel  of  simple 
sweetness  and  virile  strength. 

I  have  written  this  sketch  of  Harold 
Bell  Wright  that  you  may  know  him  as 
intimately,  if  possible,  as  if  you  had  met 
him  in  person.  But  should  you  have  the 
opportunity  of  making  his  acquaintance 
do  not  deny  yourself  the  pleasure.  If 
you  are  a  lover  of  his  books  I  am  sure 
you  are  just  the  kind  of  person  that  the 
author  himself  delights  to  meet. 

“Relay  Heights,” 

February  15,  1916. 


17 


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